Friday, December 03, 2004

On December 3, the Associated Press reported that "[former independent counsel] Kenneth Starr says he never should have led the investigation that resulted in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton" -- but did not point out that Starr himself sought the authority to conduct that investigation. According to the AP, Starr told the Santa Barbara News-Press that "'the most fundamental thing that could have been done differently' was for somebody else to have investigated Clinton's statements under oath denying he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky." Starr also said, "There was a sense on the part of the country that my (Lewinsky) effort was an effort somehow to expand the (Whitewater) investigation, when it was separate."

The AP failed to mention that: 1) Starr actively sought (and ultimately attained) authority to investigate the Lewinsky matter, and 2) evidence shows that Starr's Lewinsky investigation was in fact an effort on his part to expand the Whitewater investigation, since it had become apparent that Whitewater was not yielding sufficient evidence to bring any charges against Clinton. The independent counsel's investigation of the Clintons lasted seven years and cost approximately $70 million.

This kind of re-writing of history is going to be endemic for as long as our toothless press declines to even try gumming slimeballs like Starr. The real story is well-documented in the chilling documentary "The Hunting of the President."